Thursday, December 26, 2013

Stormy ran
his white gloved fingers over the skull end of his cane as he spoke. “You know,
Chaos Drones, Hounds, and especially Serpents are very hard to come by.”

“If you
didn’t want your toys broken, you shouldn’t have thrown them at us.” Sandstorm said
as he stood stiff and clenched his fists.

“Perhaps.
Watching you struggle with them was amusing in its own right.”

“Come out
from behind your little force field and we’ll see who struggles.” Anubis
growled.

“In good
time. But first, I see that we are missing a few people.” Stormy snapped his
finger and Nightfall, Atomizer and Redeagle appeared near their friends.
“That’s better.”

Redeagle
instantly drew his pistol.

“Don’t
shoot! There’s a barrier.” Electrode warned.

“You
obviously want to tell us about your sick plan.” Sandstorm said. “So quit
wasting our time.” All the while, he applied his elemental senses to the area
around him, looking for a weakness to exploit.

“You’re all
here for the final act. You were supposed to die, but that hardly matters when
I get to sacrifice all of you to him.”

“You think
we’re going to let you release Chaos? That’s what this is about right?” Anubis
said. “We’ve been told.”

“Yes. And a
grand remaking of the universe will soon begin. You see, the last time he was
free, he nearly killed all the gods of this universe. He nearly erased the
definitions of good and evil. Insanity and beautiful madness spread like a
glorious disease. Everything I’ve done, to this point, has been to upset the
balance enough to free him. Oh, you look skeptical. What I did, didn’t make
sense to you? That’s the beauty of it. Chaos doesn’t have to make sense. It
doesn’t. I started with a global
catastrophe and blocked out the sun. Imagine the terror around the world? It
triggered lawlessness, looting, and more. But then I needed some very
centralized effects to gain enough weight to tip the scales of the balance. So
I destroyed the greatest force of good in one of the largest cities in the
world, New York. The New York Police Departments were wiped out in a single
night. What a crushing blow. With them barely functioning, murder and mayhem
could run rampant, as you all saw. You remember having to fight looters and
Professor Zombie’s creations? The fact that you could stop them didn’t matter. They
provided the death toll needed to keep this whole wheel moving forward. Of
course I needed more. So I had the greatest icon of this country taken by
siege. That would be the White House of course. Politicians don’t count much
for cracking the balance, but he hopes of people that get downtrodden,
perfect.”

“So
everything was just to do as much damage as you could, even if it didn’t
succeed in destroying everything?” Electrode said.

“Exactly.
The living hurricane, the 7 artifacts, every single challenge you’ve faced so
far, meant to do damage that wouldn’t otherwise be done. Whether or not it
killed any of you, would merely be a bonus. You were meant to come here. You
were meant to be sacrificed to Chaos.”

“I think
we’re going to surprise you.” Atomizer said before he suddenly put a hand to
his forehead.

“Your
powers are triggered by mental command, Atomizer. My mystical neural net will
prevent you from blowing up so much as a toothpick.” Stormy said proudly.

“That’s
from my gift given to you at the beach, Anubis. You assumed it was part of your
armor and gifts, but you’re too new to have realized it wasn’t. My magic ring
will keep you from doing anything but watch your friends die. It was so easy to
slip it on your finger. You must learn to pay attention, but you won’t live to
use the lesson.”

Nyhtwulf
lunged forward but collapsed to the ground, holding his ears in agony. Stormy
stood up from his throne with cane in hand.

“That
horrifying pitch in your ears and brain is something only you can hear, demon.
You can’t even stay intangible.” Stormy stepped down from the throne.

Blacktide’s
body suddenly engulfed in swirling shadows from his power as it overloaded and
strained is ability to control. He dropped to his knees trying to hold it all
in.

“You better
hold on tight, Blacktide. You wouldn’t want to kill all your friends. That
would almost be like when you killed your parents. Oh, I know, it was an
accident. That’s what you tell yourself anyway.” Stormy took another step
towards the remaining friends.

“You’ll
find me more difficult to deal with.” Galose said as he stepped forward.

“I doubt
it.” Stormy tossed a small device at Galose who instinctively caught it. All
systems suddenly went to static. Readings weren’t working and multiple systems
were starting to shut down. “That’s a little gift from the Maker. It’s designed
to shut down any form of technology; even of the mighty Cyborians. Before you
can override it, your armor will be dead.”

Stormy
stopped in front of Sandstorm, Electrode, Nightfall and Redeagle.

“Well? What
is the great and powerful Sandstorm going to do?”

“At the
moment? Nothing.”

“Really?
Fascinating!” Stormy shot a bolt of energy that hit Nightfall and knocked her
out instantly. “Even if I start hurting your friends?”

Redeagle
attacked. His powerful swings were blocked effortlessly. Stormy spun and drove
the end of his cane through the agent’s midsection. Stormy fixed his eyes on
those of Sandstorm as he gave his cane a jerk and dropped Redeagle to the
floor. Electrode almost moved forward, but Sandstorm put a hand on his
shoulder.

“Don’t.”

“But…”

“Don’t.
He’s tapped into the powers of all the other people in those cylinders. They’ve
amplified his abilities beyond our reach.” Sandstorm said as he held Electrode
back.

“Very
intuitive, Sandstorm. You’re exactly right.”

From the
swirling abyss a great shadow formed of a hand that made them all seem like
ants in comparison. Stormy smiled.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

“Let’s
assume it’s just like the other creatures here. Keep it busy. This one’s on
me.” Sandstorm vanished into the air.

“Okay! Aim
at its eyes and mouth!” Electrode said as he fired a barrage of lightning at
the creatures double set of red eyes.

“Partner,
see if you can reach that thing’s brain.” Blacktide suggested as he powered up
for a new attack.

“Let me run
in real quick, I got an idea!” Anubis charged in as the beast reared back from
incoming attacks. Galose fired at it to keep its attention, but it quickly
noticed Anubis standing right under its chin. “Well, come and get me!”

The
creature snapped at Anubis with its mouth and two lines of teeth, but the hero
was ready. He held up his lance and propped its mouth open. The blades of the
lance sank into the roof of its mouth. The great serpent threw its head back
and howled in pain and rage. No matter how it tried, the lance of Anubis could
not be broken. It angled its mouth back toward Anubis and spewed green bile
that he narrowly avoided. The acid venom sizzled on the pathway.

As attacks
battered the creature it spewed at them again. This time the wave was stopped
by a force field created by Anubis. He wasn’t going to have it spitting on his
friends. It was still hard to hurt the creature as its lashing head made for a
difficult target.

Nyhtwulf
flew in over top of it and plunged an intangible fist into the top of its head.
He had to remain partially tangible and it convulsed from his life force and
brain wave disrupting powers. Unlike Anubis, Nyhtwulf felt no difficulty
flying. He wondered if it was because he was intangible or from another realm
himself.

Galose shot
three of its teeth out and kept his targeting locked on the gaping jaws. He
didn’t want to go with his highest firepower for fear of hurting allies. The
punishment the beast could take amazed him. Something else bothered him too.

“I’ve lost
Sandstorm’s life signs!” Galose said.

Blacktide
took a turn with his disintegrative powers while Anubis protected him from an
acid bath. “Are you sure?”

“Do not
worry!” Nyhtwulf shouted from atop the things head.

Lightning
danced between the creature’s teeth in bright flashes.

“We’re
pouring it on but it’s not going down fast enough!” Electrode said. “If my
partner is going to do something, I wish he’d get to it!”

If
Sandstorm could hear the conversation, he wouldn’t be surprised. He found it
hard to hear anything after going down the beast’s throat. In the form of air,
it was an easy feat. He moved into the depths of the monster but avoided going
into its lungs. Instead he stopped between the lungs and stomach. As an
elemental, he could sense and control the aspects of all four elements. So far,
every living thing he had ever encountered had one element in common; water.
So, much like the day he merged with a living hurricane, he merged with the
giant serpent. With vast senses, he could feel and detect every molecule of
water throughout the creature’s body.

Another
aspect of Sandstorm’s power involved converting one element into another at
will. I would be no effort to change all the water in the creature’s body to
fire or earth. In this case, he chose earth. But earth has many aspects beyond
simple dirt.

From the
outside the convulsions of the creature slowed to tremors as it suddenly found
it difficult to move. Nyhtwulf flew back to his friends.

“There is
change.” He said to them. “Watch.”

They no
longer needed to attack the creature. It couldn’t attack them anymore. The red
of its mouth slowly turned gray. Its flickering tongue froze in position and
its eyes went dull. The blood in its veins slowed like hardening concrete.
Organs shut down and froze in place. But there was one more element to convert.
The beast was breathing. It couldn’t even take a last gasp as its lungs turned
to stone.

From
outside, popping sounds could be heard as stone began to crack from under
armor-like scales. Sandstorm had one last trick.

“Anubis, we
will need a shield.” Nyhtwulf said.

Anubis
barely put one up in time to block the flying debris as the serpent exploded in
all directions. Great chunks of its body flew away into the swirling abyss
around them.

“Explosive
personality.” Anubis mused. “Serves it right for trying to puke on us.” The
Egyptian hero held out his hand and caught his lance as it flew back to him.

Sandstorm’s
body formed out of the air where nothing was left of their opponent. He looked
around him and far out into the swirling colors.

“No more!”
Sandstorm shouted. “Deal with us yourself! Where are you?”

“You
needn’t shout.” Came a voice from up ahead of them. “I’m right here.”

The scene
ahead of them shifted like a mirage and an enormous platform appeared. Jonathon
“Stormy” Knight sat in a white marble throne with his skull head cane leaning
on the side. Behind him, against a wall, a line of man sized cylinders could be
seen. Inside each one, they could see one of the heroes that had allied with
them before. Doctor Vampire and all of his Strykeforce Guard had been captured
as well as all of Calibur 5 from Florida. From the bottom of the cylinders,
thick tubes converged to the back of the throne.

“No way!”
Electrode said.

Without
further hesitation the heroes attacked. Lightning, metron blasts,
disintegration waves, and a bladed lance closed in on Stormy, but stopped
short. As they all closed in on the platform, Stormy laughed.

“Anubis
isn’t the only one who can make force fields. Calm down. We have so much to
talk about.”

Stormy’s smile unnerved them all. They realized that they had no
idea what they were facing.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Blacktide’s
eyes clouded in dark shadows as his power grew. He clenched his fist, also
shrouded in the dark energies he commanded. Shadow wisps even emitted from his
lips as he spoke.

“Now.”

Nyhtwulf
shifted out of the way and Blacktide thrust his fist forward. Despite the
amount of power coursing in the effect, a disintegration bolt or wave makes
little more in noise than a cough or ‘whumping’ sound. The crackling and spitting
sparks all came from the Chaos drone as it took the attack full in the chest.
The air sizzled from the relentless attack and the drone started to be forced
backwards. Layers of armor dissipated into smoke followed by wires and circuit
boards. Still, it didn’t happen as quickly as this kind of power would destroy
anything common to Earth. Blacktide didn’t realize it, but this charge released
on Earth would have been catastrophic in its effect.

The drone
stumbled as the blast achieved the halfway mark into its body. Blacktide
pressed advantage and stepped forward. All he knew in the moment was rage. Rage
at all the horrors he and his friends had faced so far. Horrors all set in
motion by the one man they sought on this nightmare path. Finally, the drone
shuddered and fell backwards, floating away into the strangeness of the void
around them. Blacktide stopped firing and watched for a second as the useless
metal trash drifted away. He leaned over and put his hands on his knees and
realized he was out of breath.

Electrode
could feel a sharp tooth press its point against the side of his neck. Even
with all Sandstorm’s elemental strength and an iron ore fist in its mouth, the
giant hound only needed to flinch and kill its prey. Electrode’s mind raced and
desperation fueled the invention of idea. One of its red glaring eyes was close
to his right hand where he had a fistful of black fur. For anyone else, the
time it would take to let go and try this stunt would result in death. For a
man who could move faster than the speed of light, it was perfect timing. While
his body was pinned, he could still move that hand. Utilizing his speed and
making the world around him stand still, he darted his hand to the creature’s
eye and dug his electrical arcing fingers in hard. Its eye was the size of a
racquetball and just as rubbery in consistency. He pulled with the power of his
speed and ripped the eye from its socket, still attached by its long cord. Now
was the time to charge it with everything he had to offer. The jolting hit home
this time and the beast threw its head backwards, howling in pain. Taking
advantage, Sandstorm pulled its head back and grasped upper and lower portions
of its jaw. With a mighty heave in strength, he snapped its jaw outward. The
beast fell over dead.

Anubis and
Galose wrestled with their giant hound. Galose activated strength adaptation
programs in his armor. Because Cyborian armor keeps all its equipment and
systems in pocket dimensions, it can store machinery much larger than itself.
The strength adaptation and amplification systems were powered by a metron
reactor twice as big as his armor. In times of need, Galose could amplify his
armors strength capabilities by 50 times or more. It was a temporary surge, but
usually enough to complete any task at hand.

He slowly
pushed the creature back and jammed an arm down its throat. He extended his
metron rifle and fired several times. The creature convulsed and went limp, hanging
from Galose’s arm. Anubis had been knocked to the path by the creature but
quickly got back to his feet.

Everyone
looked to each other and many nods indicated that all would live for the time
being.

“Galose,
are you getting any more readings for up ahead?” Sandstorm asked.

“My sensors
work at a limited distance in this dimension.”

“But we can
see clear down the path to where it disappears.” Anubis said.

“That is an
illusion. We cannot see precisely where the path goes. We can only follow it.”

“I am also
unable to detect anything at a distance here.” Nyhtwulf said.

“Sounds
like we’re in a twisted fog bank.” Sandstorm said. “Well, we may as well keep
going. Stay close together. I don’t want us losing anyone.”

“Oh, and
don’t fly. It works really weird here.” Anubis said.

“Yeah, we
saw you go for a ride.” Blacktide said.

“Hey,
that’s no ride I want to take again.”

They
marched forward on the path with purpose. Whatever waited for them ahead, they
knew it was their mission. Clearly, they were meant to follow the path with no
choices for other avenues. In a few minutes of moving forward the path rumbled
and shook.

“Tell me we
aren’t going to lose the path.” Anubis said.

“I don’t
think so.” Sandstorm said. “Something is up ahead of us.”

As they
moved forward a gigantic black mass started to form ahead for the sake of vision.
The path shook again from a loud growl as the new threat came into view.

“You gotta
be kidding me.” Electrode said.

The giant
black serpent’s body was wrapped around the hovering path ahead of them. Its
body was as wide as a mid-size car and longer than two city buses. It raised
its head with another growl and opened its mouth to show dagger long shining
teeth. A light green residue dripped from its jaws as it gave them a loud
warning hiss.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

As it flew
closer, tiny lasers peppered the area the heroes stood in, causing them to
scatter the best they could. One wrong step would take them off the pathway and
into the abyss.

Electrode weaved past the lasers that hovered
in the air compared to his speed. His friends appeared to be in stasis from his
speeding point of view as did the Chaos drone. Electrode dashed down the path
to get a shot at it from behind. Once in position he had to come out of speed
mode to hit his target with a burst of powerful lightning. It’s easy to hit
something made of metal when you fight with electricity. Electrode hit the
drone right between the shoulder blades.

Without
hesitation, the drone turned sideways with one arm aimed either direction. The
tiny, yet explosive lasers fired from its fingertips. At the same time, a long
metal ribbon emerged from somewhere on its back and lashed toward Electrode. If
it weren’t for his ability to perceive movement in the tiniest of fractions, it
would have cut him in half. Instead it left a neat slice in the path where
Electrode once stood.

Galose was
the second to engage the hovering menace. He fired his shoulder cannons with
several direct hits. The drone didn’t even waver in the air. Another metal
ribbon lashed out and made a gash in one of Galose’s arms.

“I’m going
to repair my armor more than it’s needed in two decades!” Galose said to
himself before calling out; “We have to bring it down!”

Anubis
jumped into the air and aimed his glowing lance at the drone. The wide cosmic
blast engulfed the midsection of his target and actually shoved it a whole inch
in the air.

“Man, that
would have leveled a building! What is this thing made of?” Anubis called out.
A few lasers hit Anubis and sent him spinning backwards. He suddenly found it
difficult to stop himself from tumbling through the air.

Nyhtwulf
quickly placed himself between the onslaught of laser blasts and his friends.
As the shots went into his ethereal body, they emerged heading back where they
came from. Its own weaponry proved more effective than any so far and actually
left score marks on its armor. Blacktide moved to back up his partner and aimed
at one of the propellers that kept the drone aloft. A disintegration beam
destroyed the whirling apparatus and the Chaos drone landed on the path.

The drone
didn’t slow down in its combat mode regardless of loss of flight. The metal
ribbons lashed out again. One went through Nyhtwulf harmlessly while the other
ribbon cut Blacktide’s leather jacket before the end of it could be burnt off.

Sandstorm
was trying to figure out if he could melt or freeze this opponent when he saw
something materializing behind Electrode. There was no time for warning.

The
Nuclear-Electric man was doing his best to hit the drone with all he had when
something threw him to the path. Hot breath steamed the back of his neck and a
loud growl sang in his ears. Sandstorm turned into air in order to get to his
partner quickly. He formed himself as iron ore and grappled the giant black
hound that pinned Electrode. With an enlarged arm around its neck, Sandstorm
pulled, but couldn’t budge the creature from the path. Electrode managed to
spin underneath the creature in order to get hands on its neck and jaw.

“Electrode,
fry it!” Sandstorm called out.

As the
beast’s teeth grew closer to his neck, Electrode turned it into a dazzling
display of arcing electricity. Even with all he could do, it was very slow in
doing any damage.

“Somebodeeee?
Anybody?” Anubis called as he struggled to stop tumbling through the air toward
the swirling boundaries. “I can’t get control of my flight!”

Galose saw
Anubis’s struggle and ran down the path away from the fight. His targeting
computers locked on to the flailing hero. The triangular red gem at Galose’s
waist emitted a red tractor beam that caught Anubis and dragged him back to the
path.

“Okay,
flying is a bad move. Thanks for grabbing me.” Anubis said.

“I’ve been
taking readings.” Galose said. “This is a chaos dimension. The creatures here
have the ability to anchor themselves in order not to float away. As long as we
stay on the path, we can maneuver.”

“Well,
let’s get back to the others!” Anubis said.

Before they
could act, another hound beast materialized between them and jumped on Galose.
It locked its teeth into his shoulder and fangs started to penetrate armor.
Anubis stabbed it in the side with his lance, but the blade only pushed against
its body without cutting through.

The drone
angled its shoulders and tried to cut Blacktide with the other propeller that
was still spinning while sending both ribbons for him as well. Nyhtwulf grabbed
his friend by the shoulder and suddenly both of them were intangible.

“That’s
it!” Blacktide said. “Keep me from getting hit, partner while I juice up to hit
it with all I’ve got.

The drone
stomped forward, resorting to swinging fists that did nothing. Nyhtwulf kept
his own intangible body between the drone and his partner, moving just enough
to keep distance between them.

Sandstorm
strained to pull the giant hound away from his friend. Electrode poured
everything he could into trying to kill it. Its resilience would be amazing if
it weren’t so close to sinking its teeth into his throat. Electrode could count
its pointed fangs and could almost feel them slicing into his neck.

“If this
thing’s breath doesn’t melt my face off first, it’s going to bite my head off.”
Electrode thought. “I can’t get out from under it!”

To try and
help, Sandstorm put one of his iron ore hands right in the monster’s mouth.

Anubis
continued to try and stab the one that jumped on Galose.

“I can’t
budge it!” Anubis shouted.

Galose
grabbed the creature’s jaws and struggled to push it away. Never had he come
across a flesh and blood creature that could bite through Cyborian armor.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

One of
Stananteon’s forelegs crushed through the building and landed on the sidewalk.
His roar shook the street and an arch of electricity danced between his
straight horns.

“You should
know well, Anubis! You dropped Monolith into the ocean. You left my Pentegram
Syndicate on a runaway starship!”

“Well, hey
hey! Someone who doesn’t just call me a dog!” Anubis flew into the air. “I hope
you don’t expect me to go easy on you for that.”

“Enough
chatter!” Sandstorm shouted. “Let’s deal with this thing and get it over with!”

Sandstorm
sank into the ground like a vanishing ghost while Galose opened fire with his forearm
rifles. After taking several direct hits across his broad neck, Stananteon
breathed engulfing flames around Galose and half the street. Nyhtwulf flew
through the dragon’s body and it lurched from the effect of having its life
force scrambled; but that didn’t stop it. Stananteon gave a thunderous roar
that knocked Nyhtwulf tumbling through the air.

Anubis hit
the dragon between its glowing eyes with a cosmic blast that made it shake its
head.

“You’re
just an overgrown lizard!” He taunted it.

“I’ll show
you an overgrown lizard!” Stananteon shouted. The arch of electricity became a
super-charged bolt fired at Anubis. The Egyptian hero blocked with his lance,
but the shot still threw him across the street.

A blast of
disintegration energy tore into the dragon’s lower jaw. He roared in agony from
Blacktide’s attack.

“You should
fly away before I erase your teeth!” Blacktide shouted. “We’re fed up and have
no time for psychotic dinosaurs!”

“You take
me for a simple beast, but I shall show you…” Stananteon was interrupted by a
giant hand of concrete clutching his throat. It came up from below him, through
the wreckage of the building. It lifted the dragon up as more of Sandstorm’s
giant body rose into view. Sandstorm slammed the dragon onto its back and
brought down a wrecking ball fist on its head.

He
continued to smash away at Stananteon with hammer-fist blows that forced the
head of the beast through the asphalt and sidewalk. A nearby fire hydrant burst
and showered the area with water. Broken cars tumbled away because of the
shaking ground. Electrode reached out and drew the arc of electricity to his
body, absorbing it to charge himself.

“I’ll take
that.”

Thanks to
Electrode and the savage pounding, Stananteon weakened quickly and suddenly
vanished without a trace. Anubis landed with a grin.

“I guess he
was a chicken lizard.”

Sandstorm
returned to normal. “I think we’ve shown we mean business. Was the dragon the
source of energy?”

“No.”
Galose said. “That is still at the end of the alley.”

“Then let’s
go.”

The group
approached the wall at the dead end of the alley with caution. Scattered trash,
debris, a dumpster and a few trash cans were all that adorned the alley up to
the blank brick wall. They watched for movement and Anubis poked his nose into
the dumpster.

“Peeeyew.”
Anubis shook his head. “What we seek is definitely not in there.”

“Where does
the trace lead to?” Blacktide asked.

“In the
middle of the wall.” Galose said as he walked up to it. “I see now. It’s a
disguised portal. We can just walk through it.”

“Nothing
says ‘trap’ like an open door.” Electrode said.

“So we
watch each other’s backs.” Sandstorm said.

“I’ll go
first.” Galose said and walked through before anyone could answer.

Nyhtwulf
and Blacktide went next, followed by Anubis, Sandstorm and Electrode.

“Not that I
wanted to be last or anything.” Electrode said.

“Don’t
worry about it.” Anubis said. “You had the best chances of catching up.”

“That’s
almost funny.” Electrode responded.

“Pay
attention. Things just got weird.” Sandstorm said.

They stood
on a wide white path that stretched away into the distance. Above and below the
path was nothing. Bright swirling colors churned high above and far below. It
looked as if you could fall away forever if you stepped off the path.

“I detect
no ground limit in any direction past the path.” Galose said. “It may be safe
to fly here, but I would advise extreme caution. We are in another dimension.”

“Well,
looks like it’s wide enough for all of us to move around on. Just be careful
and let’s start walking.” Sandstorm said as he moved forward. “Galose, Anubis,
Nyhtwulf, let us know the moment you sense anything coming at us.”

The path
felt solid under their feet. It didn’t bounce or move in any way. Anubis and
Nyhtwulf decided not to fly unless they absolutely had to try it. The swirling
dimension was strange and played with their eyes if they stared out into the
colors for more than a second. It was best to keep their eyes on the path.

“Should I
scout forward?” Electrode offered.

“No.
There’s no way of helping you if something grabs you. You might even wind up in
another dimension on top of this one.” Sandstorm said.

“This
dimension is not stable.” Galose reported. “According to my readings, this is
more of a long portal or dimensional tunnel being held open. If it closes on
us, there is no telling where we will go.”

“Since it
didn’t just close on us; someone wants us to follow.” Blacktide said.

“Let’s hope
it stays that way.” Electrode added.

“Well, we
thought ‘death trap’ and here we are.” Anubis said.

Up ahead of
them, something moved near the path. It was far ahead, over a hundred yards,
but flew toward them.

“You got
that on your sensors?” Sandstorm asked.

“It is
shielded from them.” Galose answered.

The
humanoid form appeared robotic with a long pole angled far out from either
shoulder. At the top of each pole, blades whirred, holding the thing aloft.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

On the roof
of the FPA building in New York City, energy crackled as Anubis appeared with
Nightfall, Sandstorm and Electrode. A few feet away, Nyhtwulf appeared with
Blacktide. Yet a few further feet away, Galose appeared with Redeagle and
Atomizer. In split seconds, before the Rotanian ship launched away toward the
sun, they all managed to escape. As they all regrouped and shook themselves
off, sunlight bathed the rooftop in welcome light.

Far below,
in the streets of New York, cheering could be heard. It sounded faint at first,
but quickly grew in volume. With the Rotanian ship gone, the dark field around
the Earth was lifted. For the first time in too many days, the sun could be
seen again.

Sandstorm
stood and felt the warmth on his face and knew that everything up to this
moment was worth it. Anubis and Nyhtwulf rushed to heal injured friends.
Atomizer, Nightfall and Redeagle had taken the worst beatings.

As he was
being healed by Nyhtwulf, Atomizer stared up at the blue sky.

“I don’t
think I’ve ever been so happy to see anything in my entire life.”

“Do you
think they really crashed into the sun?” Electrode asked Galose.

“I can’t be
sure. If they didn’t, their ship still requires serious repair. They won’t be
back anytime soon.”

“I sure
hope that’s the case.” Nightfall said.

“We’re
still far from done.” Anubis said. “We need to get Stormy, the psycho yet.”

“We have to
find out where he is.” Nightfall said.

“You won’t
have to try very hard.” A peel of thunder shouted and Stormy could be seen
standing on the roof with them. Electrode responded instantly, firing a bolt of
lightning that went through Stormy and did nothing.

“Don’t
waste your power, I’m not actually among you. You see me with the power of
illusion.”

“What’s
wrong? You afraid to come out and play for real?” Anubis chided.

“Hardly.
I’m here to give you an invitation. I’m going to create a mystical beacon in
Los Angeles that at least one of you should be able to detect. Come after me if
you dare.” Stormy vanished and Anubis stabbed his lance into the rooftop.

All six of
the heroes appeared on a vacant Los Angeles street facing a long alleyway.
Before they could take in the scenery, a savage roar shook the street. On top
of one building facing them, a golden scaled dragon spread its wings and
shouted.

“I am
Stananteon! You who defeated my minions must pay with your lives!”

“Uh, what
minions were those?” Anubis asked as they all tensed for the fight.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

On the
bridge of the Rotanian Flagship, if a robot could feel a sense of
accomplishment, Mechanicore would have been glowing with it. According to all
sensor readings, they had hit their target and Galose was no more. The Maker
would be very pleased to learn this. At the moment, the Rotanian General’s
creator dealt with the rest of the intruders in the engine bays. Mechanicore
could not deny the conclusion that this should have been done long ago. The strange
chain of events incited by Stormy Knight made no logical sense. According to
programming, Mechanicore knew that the best way to deal with an adversary was
to destroy them directly. It didn’t matter anymore. Once Stormy Knight finished
whatever he was doing, the Rotanians would strip the Earth of its best mineral
deposits. It was possible that Earth would even become a new Rotanian outpost.
The planet would be redesigned with factories to build billions of robot
soldiers.

A bright
flash interrupted mechanical musings and energy rifles blared and blasted. As
Rotanians were blasted apart on all sides of the bridge, Galose came flying
through the air to land a foot against Mechanicore’s head. Galose bypassed the
ship’s security systems to teleport onboard. He followed up his kick with a
battery of rifle and cannon blasts, pounding the robot general backwards. A
well-aimed pulse grenade blew the doors away from a lift shaft. A second shot
sent Mechanicore spiraling away into the darkness.

“Now, I
won’t be making the same mistake you did.” Galose said as he turned and
backhanded a soldier right behind him. Its robot head went spinning across the
bridge.

Galose went
straight to a console and put an armored hand on it. Interfacing with the
Rotanian navigation computers took little effort. As he established commands
for the ship, he scanned for his new friends. He hoped they were still alive.

When
Blacktide got pulled through the floor, Murderator tossed him down like a rag
doll. The tall robot bodyguard took aim with its dark visor and a wide beam of
disintegration energy came for Blacktide. He had no chance to evade and all
around him, metal and machinery dissipated into smoke. As it cleared, he was
amazed to find that it didn’t hurt him at all. Blacktide stared over his
completely unaffected body in shock.

“No way.”

Murderator
seemed momentarily confused by the outcome as well. Blacktide looked up at it
and half smiled. He jumped to his feet as another blast came. He ignored at as
he moved toward the monster robot.

“Does not
compute, huh? How about this?” Blacktide drew back one hand as he charged up
his power as hard as he could. He thrust that hand forward and a bolt of
darkness hit Murderator directly in the visor. Murderator convulsed, sparked
and finally fell backwards. The amplified powers, a gift from Death, only
needed a proper conduit past the robot’s armor.

As if it
realized its twin was beaten, Sendroid dropped through the hole, landing behind
Blacktide. The blonde hero turned, his eyes were smoking black from power.

“Oh yeah,
you hunk of junk, it’s your turn.”

Above them
in the engine bay, the Maker sneered from this seat.

“Defeat my
bodyguards? Unheard of. None the less, you will come to me next and die. Soon
my soldiers will toss your bodies into space. Your unprotected bodies will
burst and that will be the end of you.”

A rattling
sound commanded the Maker’s attention from thoughts of evil. Directly below
him, a piece of rock from Sandstorm’s giant body, vibrated on the floor. One by
one, then two by two, each piece began to shiver and shake on the metal floor.

“What is
this?” The Maker snarled.

A rock
suddenly flew through the air and narrowly missed the Maker’s head. More
followed as rocks jumped from the floor and zinged all over the chamber.

“Impossible!”
The Maker hit the control panel on his chair and the metal shields concealed
him from view. Rocks pelted his chair from all sides as they spun and darted
like angry hornets.

“No matter!
I will flood this chamber with radiation and deal with you!”

But rocks
penetrated the turbine engines. Metal parts broke and gears cracked. Several
small explosions rocked the room. The Maker struggled to steady his chair so he
could regain control of the situation. That’s when he saw Anubis on his
internal monitor. The Maker’s eyes grew wide as he saw the grimacing Anubis
hold back the bladed lance for throwing.

“No.” The
Maker murmured in disbelief.

Anubis
threw his lance and it drove right through the base of the hovering chair. The
balance systems were destroyed by the hit and the chair spun across the engine
bay. It bounced off two walls and the floor before vanishing. The Maker managed
to trigger an escape teleportation system. Even so, he pounded his fists in
frustration as he could not control his chair in any other way.

After
perforating the turbine engines, all the flying rocks dissipated into air
followed by the reformation of Sandstorm’s body. Sandstorm rushed to
Electrode’s side.

“Come on,
buddy, up and at ‘em! We have to get out of here now.” He gave his partner an
electric jolt to the chest, bringing him back to consciousness.

Nyhtwulf
also woke up and dropped through the floor to get his partner and best friend.
Blacktide still surged with power and both robots lay motionless.

“No one can
come near me.” Blacktide said. “It’s way too dangerous.”

“I can come
near you, my friend. We must leave now.”

“How can we
know it won’t hurt you?”

“I have
been helping you control your powers all this time. This will be no different.”
Nyhtwulf said as the dark aura faded from Blacktide. “You will be alright.”

From
outside the blasts started to breach the hull. The ship navigation system
kicked in with its new orders and the drive engines came to life. As the
explosions continued the jump system kicked in and the ship shot across the
solar system toward the sun.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

“Did you
think I never dealt with your kind before?” The Maker sneered. “What you just
experienced is called a ‘slow field’. It cancels out speed powers very
effectively. Try as you might, you won’t be dashing around in here.”

Electrode
stood up, electricity arched around his body. “I still have another weapon.”

“Do you?”

Electrode
launched a series of powerful bolts at the Maker’s chair and his two robots.
Nothing happened to any of them.

“Very impressive.
Unfortunately, you face me. I’m not such an easy target.”

“Maybe we
can try something else.” Electrode sent his next surge of attacks toward one of
the giant turbine engines. To his shock, the lightning re-directed and hit the
Maker’s chair instead. It still did no damage to the hovering chair.

“I’m on
‘em!” Blacktide shouted as he returned fire in kind. He hit the closest one to
him and merely singed its chest plates. “Oh great! So much for being pumped
up.”

The robot,
called Murderator, lunged forward and brought a big fist down that Blacktide
barely rolled away from. It crumpled the metal floor but didn’t break through.

“I wonder
what’s under here?” Blacktide thought.

Nightfall
ran through the fight to try and drag Electrode to a safer distance. At least
he could be out from under the robot’s stomping feet. Nyhtwulf couldn’t help
her as he flew for the Maker. The Dwarf of the Deep Stars, saw the Twilie Demon
coming and smiled. Before Nyhtwulf could touch the Maker, he was caught in
mid-air with a loud crackling sound.

“It’s an
ethereal barrier, Demon. Perfect for the likes of you!”

Nyhtwulf’s
limp body was thrown across the chamber and against a wall with an echoing
thud. At the same time, the robot called
Sendroid caught Anubis by an ankle in the air. It swung his body right into
Nightfall and Electrode, flinging all three of them another direction. Anubis’s
body dented the metal wall and he staggered to his feet. Nightfall and
Electrode didn’t move.

“I’m really
getting sick of this!” Anubis shouted as he built up a glowing charge of cosmic
power around himself.

“Do tell.”
The Maker looked less than impressed.

Blacktide
turned his power against the floor under Murderator’s plodding feet to reveal
another chamber underneath them. The big robot fell through and a loud crash
was heard below.

“Forgot to
make them fly?” Blacktide chided at the Maker.

“Hardly
necessary.” The Maker spat.

A large
metal hand reached through the floor and metal fingers wrapped around
Blacktide’s leg, pulling him down.

“No way!”
Anubis shouted as he unleashed as much power as he could muster at Sendroid. As
a display of firepower, it would have dazzled military geniuses across the
globe. But slowly, Sendroid stomped one step at a time, against the burning
assault. Anubis never let up, straining himself as far as he could go. Finally,
Sendroid stood over him and brought both metal hands down on him in a fierce
clapping motion. Anubis slumped to the floor.

“And yet,
Stormy’s little crew had so much trouble.” The Maker said. “Ah, but then
there’s one more in here now, isn’t there?”

The room
shook as Sandstorm materialized himself as a giant of jagged stone variations.
Parts of him were granite. Some were iron ore. Gems of giant sized made up the
rest of his hardened giant body. He loomed over the Maker and Sendroid with the
mass of a living avalanche. Sandstorm only wished he had found his way sooner.

“Now it’s
you and me!” Sandstorm said in a heavy gravel tone. With one great fist of
granite, he pounded Sendroid into the floor like a nail from a sledgehammer.

The Maker’s
chair lifted him up to Sandstorm’s head level and shifted in form. Metal
shields slid over the seating area of the chair and a series of cannons on
rotation arms extended from the back. The cannons and arms rotated like a
pinwheel and glowed brightly with power. Sandstorm brought both arms up with
intentions of smashing the Maker’s chair into the turbine engine behind it. The
Maker held his position, the energy from the rotating cannons strobed brightly.
Sandstorm swung his arms of iron and rock inward at the same time the cannon
array fired.

The sound
of the blast could be felt and heard by Redeagle and Atomizer who were nearing
the chamber. They were both thrown to the floor with their ears ringing.

As the
light dissipated and the rotators slowed, baseball sized chunks of Sandstorm
rained across the entire engine chamber. They clattered and bounced off metal
at every point of the engine room. The chair drifted back down and the Maker
revealed himself again.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Galose
materialized in the pilot’s seat of his ship. He managed to divert power to his
transport systems just in time to make it look like the Rotanians scored a
direct hit. Safe aboard his cloaked craft, Galose put all power into repair
systems. He would not leave these heroes of Earth to fend for themselves. He
had given his word.

Anubis
gazed around the room at their fallen enemies. It was time to move on. As they
headed for the next door, Anubis paused by the remains of Silvercrow.

“Wow.
Blacktide, there’s something different about you.”

“My powers
seem to be a bit jacked up.”

“I’ll say,
but look.” Anubis pointed to a piece of the haunted armor that was slowly
growing back, repairing itself.

“That’s
insane.” Blacktide said. “And I’ve seen a lot of insane on this trip. Let’s
just get going.”

“Sounds
like we have company on the other side of this door, guys.” Nightfall said as
she approached the controls.

“I will
lead our attack!” Nyhtwulf said as he flew through the door.

“Well.
Don’t let him have all the fun! Open the door!” Anubis said and Nightfall hit
the controls.

They fell
on their enemy without mercy or hesitation. Nyhtwulf redirected their rifle
shots back at them as Anubis charged in with his lance. Nightfall made
carefully aimed attacks with her metron rifle. Blacktide raised a hand in the
moments that the fight lasted and paused. He turned his hand to gaze at his
palm and then back at the scene before him. He folded his fingers into a fist as
the battle ended. Robot parts scattered across the corridor and smoke wafted on
the air.

“Are you
alright?” Nyhtwulf asked his partner.

“Yeah. You
know, you guys had this one. I just didn’t want to graze either of you by
accident. I don’t know how strong I am right now.”

“It’s okay.
If you want, you can attack first next time.” Anubis offered.

“Yeah,
maybe that would be good.” Blacktide half chuckled but he was deeply concerned.
His powers had killed people he loved and now they were stronger than he ever
knew. He followed his friends down the corridor, deciding it best to watch
their backs. At least any attacks from the rear wouldn’t be complicated by
friends in the way.

In another
part of the ship, a crew of Rotanians were charging along another corridor
until all their heads exploded. As he stepped carefully through the burning
parts, Atomizer had a scowl that could scare a U.S. Marine. Redeagle covered
him from the back because nothing was standing in their way up ahead. After
nearly being asphyxiated, Atomizer lost all restraint in dealing with stupid
robots.

A strange
feeling made the hair on the backs of their necks stand up as a different kind
of Rotanian materialized in front of Atomizer. It punched him in the face so
fast there was no time to react. Atomizer’s feet flew out from under him and
his hat sailed into the air. He landed on his back with a loud thud. Redeagle
immediately fired his weapon, but the robot slid past each shot with moves like
a martial arts Grandmaster. It kicked the weapon from his hands and then
launched a spin kick to his chest. Redeagle flew backwards on top of the
leftovers from the squad they had just defeated.

As Atomizer
stood up, a metal backhand tossed him against the wall. He landed on his face.
As he struggled to stand, his vision blurred. He could see fuzzy red dots on
the floor and realized he was bleeding. Then the atrocity spoke to him.

“I am
Starhunter 613. My instructions are to beat you to death for your offense to
the Maker.”

“You’re
getting ahead of yourself!” Redeagle called as he threw a broken robot head at
the Starhunter. It deflected with a forearm block.

Redeagle
didn’t have time to grab up his weapon before it was upon him. The 7 foot hero
instinctively relied on his own martial training with attempts to block and
attack. The Starhunter was fast. It punched him across the face four times
before he could react and shoved him backward on top of smoking robot parts. Then
it kicked him further down the corridor away from Atomizer.

“Your flesh
is no match for Rotanian metal.” The Starhunter loomed over Redeagle, lifting a
foot to stomp downward at him.

The wall
near the robot’s head exploded and jarred it slightly to one side. Redeagle saw
this as his one chance to get a hit in. With a savage battle cry, the big man
lunged forward and drove his fist clear through the Starhunter’s midsection.
The machine stood stunned momentarily as Redeagle pulled his arm out. He jumped
up and grabbed the robot by the head and whipped its body into and opposite wall.
When it hit the ground, Redeagle jumped and brought down both feet on the
Starhunter’s head.

“You want a
head stomped? You like that?” He shouted as he stomped on it over and over
again, smashing the metal flat against the floor. The rest of the robot body
convulsed uselessly.

“Partner.”
Atomizer croaked the word and interrupted the stomp-fest. He leaned against the
wall, bleeding and in severe pain. “I think it broke a couple ribs.”

Redeagle
grabbed up the metron rifle from the floor and ran to his partner.

Now that he
could breathe, the fastest member of the team, made short work of reaching the
engine rooms. Electrode marveled at the sight of the giant turbines that
powered the huge Rotanian flagship. Strangely, there were no Rotanian soldiers
in the massive chamber. That immediately put him on edge. He was fifty yards
away from the first two turbines. Fifty yards wasn’t even a sneeze’s distance
for him, but something instinctive made him pause. Three figures materialized
between him and the machinery.

The great
mechanical chair of the Maker hovered a few feet from the floor. A 10 foot tall
red robot stood on either side of the chair, twins. Their single optics were
oozing with black energy a lot like Blacktide’s.

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About Me

I am an advocate for autism now sharing my own fantasy universe to show just what people can do in spite of limitations (like my hands). I'm writing an ongoing story on my blogspot, have a facebook fanpage and more. I have one novel being considered by agents.

I want to network and learn with other artists and writers. I also just want to share.